Bingham: McIlroy won this tourney on Saturday

A wise man once wrote that any golf tournament doesn't begin until the back nine on Sunday. Evidently Rory McIlroy never got the memo because for the third time in four years, he won a major championship before the sun set on Saturday.

A wise man once wrote that any golf tournament doesn't begin until the back nine on Sunday. Evidently Rory McIlroy never got the memo because for the third time in four years, he won a major championship before the sun set on Saturday.

The first time was in the 2011 U.S. Open when he was so far ahead of the field the other players could barely see him. The same thing happened at the PGA Championship the next year, eight shots ahead at the end. He was 23 and already was halfway to a career Grand Slam.

In the nearly two years since, his face should have been on a carton of milk that said Missing. He has, not necessarily in this order, changed sponsors and thus a different set of clubs, walked off a golf course mid-round, dumped his longtime girlfriend and, most especially, stopped winning golf tournaments.

And so it was that he came to Royal Liverpool no longer ranked No. 1 or even among the top 5. When the gentlemen on the Golf Channel talked of possible winners, his name was rarely mentioned. Adam Scott got the most play. Tiger Woods? You never know.

When Rory opened with a 66, we all waited breathlessly for Friday. It wasn't the 13th, no black cats strolling across the first fairway, but Fridays of late had been a McIlroy bugaboo. Four times in recent months he had begun an event with a low 60-something for the lead — forgive me for not giving you the exact figures — and four times he followed with 10-15 strokes worse.

He bogeyed the first hole Friday and, I thought, here he goes again, but he got things straightened out, shot a second 66 to lead the Open by four.

In the third round he again started with a bogey, but this time he did not follow it with a flurry of birdies. He was even par through much of the day, normally not bad for some Opens, but not at Royal Liverpool. In the group immediately in front of him were Ricky Fowler, a favorite with the younger set, and Sergio Garcia, who has been trying to nail down a major since 1999.

Both of them, as well as others, were making the course look like a Par Three and somewhere about the 13th, Fowler, with seven birdies, had tied McIlroy. Sergio was close behind.

It was at this point, five holes to play, that Rory said enough. Sorry Ricky, sorry Sergio, I know you want to win one, but I do too. So excuse me if I play these remaining holes in four under par. Fowler, in response, played them two-over, a six shot swing.

On the 16th and 18th holes, long par 5s, Rory ended the tournament, no matter that there was still, as the wise heads say, a lot of golf to be played. In both cases he launched drives of such length the commentators were left trying to explain how someone only 5'9" and 160 pounds could hit a ball that far.

And each time he followed those drives with long irons that landed softly, perhaps 20 feet from the cup. "Come on" joked Paul Azinger, a commentator. "Now he's just showing off."

The putts that followed didn't think about not going in. Straight in the middle. And both times simply gave a slight fist pump, not particularly surprised at the result.

As I said, McIlroy won the championship on Saturday because he didn't win it Sunday. Starting with a six-stroke lead, he saw it fritter away, as both Ricky Fowler and Sergio Garcia drew close. He made no eagles and very few birdies, but in the end he hung on to win by two.

So now we are back to where we once were. The slow-to-react world rankings won't reflect it — they never do — but Rory is again, at 25, No. 1. And what of the former longtime No. 1?

Old Tiger, still hoping, was among those players sent off on the back nine first. The camera showed him occasionally, once with a group of marshals and spectators looking for a ball he had hit into the gorse. Any chance of winning, or even contending, vanished with his 77 on Friday.

And Phil was there too, still saying he felt he was close to winning, even though his scorecard told a different story.

No Phil, and Tiger too. The story of Royal Liverpool was Rory, Ricky and a swarm of 20-somethings that promise to dominate the game the way you two once did.

But thanks for the memories.

Walter Bingham, a former editor and writer for Sports Illustrated, lives in Truro. He can be contacted by email at sports@capecodonline.com.